Stunning Staircases Found in Abandoned Mansions by Christian Richter

Photographer Christian Richter was raised in the former East Germany. After the two sides of Germany reunited in 1990, many factories, public institutions, and residential buildings on the less prosperous eastern side were abandoned and left to decay.

“I visited a lot—and i mean a lot—of buildings to find one good staircase,” he says. “It’s a lot of detective work.”